Gary Thayer
Gary Thayer
average employment figures gm good growth last moderate news strike
I think it's good news for the economy. When you take away the GM strike and average last month's figures with this month's, you see employment growth at moderate levels, which is good for sustainable growth.
affecting closely confidence decline factor shows watch watching whether
Historically, when we see confidence decline, we have to watch and see if it shows up also affecting spending. We'll be watching closely to see ... whether the decline in confidence is more of a psychological factor or a real factor affecting spending.
growth healthy major
Growth is still at a healthy level. There is no major slowdown.
australian crude demand early looking oil peaked time zealand
Looking back, it is understandable why the Australian and New Zealand currencies peaked in early 2005. That was about the same time that the demand for crude oil also started to moderate.
buying consumers
It does show consumers are in a buying mood,
consumers energy holiday looks numbers optimistic reduced relief spending until weak
Today's numbers show that consumers are not very optimistic about the economy. As a result, we will see consumer spending reduced until we see some relief on energy prices. If we don't get some relief, it looks like it will be a very weak holiday season.
consumers employment happening negative possibly situation taking
It is encouraging that consumers are taking the negative things that are happening recently. Possibly the employment situation is outweighing other concerns.
orders weakness
Manufacturing is expanding, but not as broadly as in November. There was weakness in new orders and employment.
anticipate fed good hold inflation news people stay
We got good news on inflation. People anticipate that with inflation still very low, the Fed will stay on hold for awhile.
concerned dollar factor firm foreign good hold investors line money policies stay time wanting
He's mentioning that the dollar should stay firm and that's been a good factor for our economy. He's been concerned for some time about foreign investors wanting to keep their money here and if we keep our policies in line that should hold for a while.
along couple dollar extra giving power pressure pricing rise taking weaker
Along with the rise in non-fuel import prices, this suggests the weaker dollar is taking competitive pressure off of businesses, giving them the extra pricing power they didn't have a couple of years ago.
cooling housing inflation looks market relatively
The housing market is cooling off, but not too much, and inflation looks relatively benign.
component employment healthy lower november saw
The employment component was just a tad lower than what we saw in November so it's still a healthy number.
bit consumers economy inflation numbers sign stretch
The inflation numbers are really good. It's a very encouraging sign that consumers will be able to stretch their incomes a little bit further, and that bodes well for the economy going forward.